Best Pizza in Town?

I have often bemoaned the fact that you can’t get a good pizza in Singapore. In fact the situation had become so drastic that I had even resorted to home-cooking pizza in place of picking up the phone and ordering it in (thanks Jamie Oliver!).

All this has changed however, with the discovery of Bella Pizza on Robertson Quay. This homely little place is always packed, no matter what day of the week (except Monday when it’s closed) – and predominantly with Italians… surely a good sign of the authenticity of the cuisine. The staff are super-friendly – from the waiters who wave to me when I walk past (although that’s perhaps a sign that I need to eat less pizza…), to the chef, Antonio, who will sit down at your table to ask you how your day was, and force feed you Limoncello after your meal.

And then there is the pizza – thin crusted, generously topped and perfectly baked… for me this is simply the best pizza in Singapore. The enormous calzone are always a hit with the greedy guys in the group too.



Not that you need them, but if you’re super-greedy like us, their starters are pretty good too – we checked out the Mozzarella di Buffala wrapped in Parma Ham,



and the Melanzane alla Parmigiana which was just outstanding (although don’t expect to eat this as a starter on your own AND manage a pizza).



I’m kind of reluctant to keep singing Bella Pizza’s praises as it’s always a push to get a table at the weekend as it is – but here are another couple of reasons to go there: they do a decent house wine at just $40 a bottle, and a 3-course set lunch menu for just $18.

There… now everyone’s going to want to go and I’ll never get a table again...

Bella Pizza, Robertson Quay - http://www.bellapizza.com.sg/

Pizza on the Beach

It was my birthday (how old you ask? I don’t know, I stopped counting a few years ago now!) so a group of us met up at Trapizza at Siloso Beach, Sentosa to line our stomachs with pizza before commencing an afternoon beach bar crawl.

The menu at Trapizza consists mainly of pizza, pasta and salads. I’ve tried their salads a couple of times and not been overly impressed – too much raw onion, too much dressing and the tuna in the Nicoise is canned and mushy.

Today, however, it was all about the pizza. I chose the Siciliana – Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, Red Onion, Roasted Peppers and Basil. The pizza was a good size (for a greedy person), with a generous sprinkling of toppings (though not too much), the Sausage and Pepperoni were tasty and, most importantly, the pizza had a thin, crispy base, that hadn’t gone soggy in the middle.

One friend ordered the Lasagne, which was particularly disappointing, and as I’ve said the salads aren’t anything to write home about, so take my advice – if you’re on Sentosa and find yourself at Trapizza, go for the pizza.

I’d even go so far as to say that this was actually the best pizza I have had in Singapore… and as if that wasn’t reason enough to return… the beer is pretty cheap too …

Trapizza – http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/singapore/rasasentosaresort/dining/restaurant/trapizza

Dempsey Disappoinment

My friend has been waxing lyrical about Margarita’s at Dempsey Hill for a while, so we substituted our usual Little India mid-week feast for a trip to Dempsey to enjoy some Mexican magic… except when we got there, Margarita’s was closed for refurbishment.

Slightly disappointed, we took a short hop across the road and settled ourselves at a table outside La Forketta. The first thing that annoyed me with this restaurant that they refused to bring us iced water, despite the fact that we were ordering glasses of wine and beers all round – they would only serve us vastly overpriced bottled water (and yes, this really is a pet hate of mine).

Putting that annoyance behind us, we ordered up some food. After much deliberation, I settled on the Aubergine Cannelloni. You know La Forketta is really pretty expensive by Singapore standards and I was expecting a lot more from my main course here – all I got in the end was this:

It wasn’t even served with a side salad or anything, and it was unfortunately really pretty bland.

Those who ordered a pizza I think got the better half of the deal – Mr Greedy Glutton being one of them, ordering a Pepperoni and Pineapple Pizza.

The pizzas were really good – light, crisp base and generous toppings… but they come at a price, and I doubt very much if we will be back to enjoy them again… and definitely not for as long as they refuse to serve iced water along with your meal.

So unfortunately our mid-week cheap and cheerful get-together turned out to be rather less cheap… and rather less cheerful than usual… but at least the company was as good as ever…


La Forketta - #01-09 Dempsey Hill

Spizza Pizza

There are times when only a pizza will do. Something to line your stomach before you head out for a night of drinking is one of those times – it’s not too heavy so that you leave the restaurant feeling bloated, like with a curry (and yes, I know that’s because I always overindulge with a curry), but leaves you satisfied and ready to soak up the alcohol.

We were headed to a party on Club St, so Spizza at the bottom of Club St seemed like an appropriate meeting point… they serve chilled glasses of Pinot Grigio too, so we definitely chose well. I love how they name all their pizzas after girls’ names – I assume this was inspired by the Margherita, but I may be wrong of course. I ended up opting for the ‘Pamela’ – a straight-forward ham and mushroom.

I like that their bases are crispy and thin, and they certainly don’t scrimp on the toppings – in fact I would probably even say they overdo the toppings, and slightly less ham and mushroom wouldn’t have disappointed. My vegetarian friend opted for the ‘Elisa’ which came with pesto, olives and pine kernels and I have to say, it looked a bit of a winner, while Mr Greedy Glutton chose the ‘Olivia’ with salami and fresh chillies (and as usual had to pick off his chillies half way through, will that man ever learn?!)

It did what was required though and filled us up… and left room for a few more glasses of wine later in the night… perfect….

Spizza, Club St - http://www.spizza.sg/

Pizza and Pasta in a Funky Setting

Thursday was a public holiday in Singapore for Deepavali, so we used our day off to finally finish furnishing our apartment, as we seem to have given up shopping for furniture in favour of hunting down new restaurants. ‘Nothing wrong with that!’ I hear you cry, and you would of course be right. But there are times when needs must, so we jumped in a cab and headed up to Gillman Village to the fabulous Shophouse to find a bookcase.

And wouldn’t you just know it, we arrived just in time for lunch!

Right underneath another fantastic furniture shop, Originals, we found The Turquoise Room, a funky bistro/bar with whitewashed walls and furniture, interspersed with the odd turquoise finishing touch and swirly wall design. The menu was mainly pizzas and pastas which suited us fine and I ordered a Linguine with Prawns and Arugula and Mr Greedy Glutton opted for the Pizza with Pepperoni and Italian Sausage, and we both started with the soup of the day, the Lobster Bisque.

The food was great, the atmosphere serene and relaxing and my only regret was that I didn’t wash it down with a cold glass of white wine… but I was due to play tennis in the evening, and somehow tennis and white wine never mix very well…

The Turquoise Room, 7 Lock Road, Gillman Village